3 



ring to is not what we call peat in this country, it is 

 rather more compact, the stems of the mosses, the 

 heather roots, etc. being finer than the wood fragments 

 of the so-called peat soils here, but, generally speaking, 

 the result appears to be the same, and as decomposition 

 has gone on to a considerable extent as it had in sample 

 B, and the vegetable remains were quite broken up and 

 powdery, there would be little difference between the 

 two. The excess of water in the soil, if the water was 

 saturated with humid acid, would not be advantageous 

 to the growth of Para rubber, as explained in previous 

 papers.— Ed. 



RUBBER IN LIBERIA. 



Mr. E. D. Wildeman gives some notes of the rubber business in 

 Liberia which may be of interest to some of our readers. The 

 republic of Liberia, since it began to be the centre for repatriation 

 of freed slaves and negroes from the United States, has, to a large 

 extent, closed to the commerce of the outer world. However, since 



1906, some opening up of the country has taken place, and an act 

 was recently passed permitting firms and foreigners to settle at one 

 of the ports and to trade in the interior. The Liberia Rubber Corpo- 

 ration, founded 1905, took up large concessions, giving it the right 

 to collect rubber in public forests. In the year beginning October, 



1907, to November, 1908, 148,826 pounds of rubber were exported by 

 this company and 12,815 pounds by other firms. 



The ordinary rate of exportation licence is 12 cents a pound, but 

 the Liberian Corporation pay only 6 cents. 



According to a consular report, the hinterland contains great 

 abundance of rubber, good and bad. About 22 different kinds of 

 trees and climbers supply this more or less. 



The collection seems to attract the natives more and more. The 

 collectors get on an average 9 pence a day and 3 pence for food. The 

 collection takes place between September and March, as it is not easy 

 to get labour in April, May and June, when the natives are at work 

 on their own crops. 



In collecting, the trunk of the tree is cut with a knife and the 

 latex caught in a pot and boiled ; as soon as it coagulates it is dried 

 and- smoked and is ready for the market. 



The chief difficulty in the collection is the disorganised state of 

 the interior, the roads are often impracticable and the collectors are 

 plundered of their rubber. 



